Blog
Integrating CSR into the sales pitch is becoming a strategic imperative for brands, as buyers become increasingly aware of these issues. The figures speak for themselves: 74% of buyers would recommend a company committed to CSR, and 68% would buy more of its products or services. Even on the sensitive subject of price, 1/3 of buyers and potential customers would be prepared to pay more to support a company active in this field (CCI France). CSR sells, but sales reps still need to be aware of it and mobilized around it. This is a major challenge, since fewer than 1 in 2 sales reps are aware of their company's CSR commitments (Ekopo).
Are salespeople CSR ambassadors?
In a context where environmental and social concerns are becoming increasingly important, the role of the salesperson is changing. It's no longer just a matter of selling a product or service, but of conveying the company's values, particularly in terms of CSR. The good news is that buyers tend to trust employee testimonials more than direct corporate communications. As LSA Green points out: "59% of buyers do not trust brands to communicate honestly and transparently about their commitments and responsibilities". Companies must therefore adapt and find a new way of communicating about CSR issues. This is where the role of the salesperson comes into its own! It's up to them to support their company's CSR approach and bring it closer to the buyer. They become ambassadors for their company's CSR approach. Integrating CSR into the sales pitch is therefore becoming a priority for marketing and sales departments if they want to strengthen their competitiveness in the marketplace. This new role for the salesperson cannot be achieved without sustained support from the marketing team, who will have to popularize all these notions and make them easily accessible, so that the salesperson can use them in meetings.
3 essential steps before integrating CSR into your sales pitch
1. Integrate CSR right from the salesperson's onboarding phase
For an approach to be perceived as important, it must be treated as a corporate value and integrated from the moment the salesperson joins the company. Integrating CSR into the onboarding process will help lay the foundations for awareness and commitment to CSR. CSR must therefore occupy an important and logical place, complementing the company's offers and services. By integrating CSR right from the salesperson's onboarding, the company creates a corporate culture in which CSR is valued in all facets of sales activity. When putting CSR into practice, salespeople must also discover how it contributes to their performance, so as to better understand its benefits and use it effectively in meetings.
2. Mobilize sales reps on CSR issues
Employees are still not very involved in CSR initiatives. Only 17% of companies consider them to be driving forces (Kantar Baromètre RSE). And yet, one of the key success factors in implementing a CSR approach is the company's ability to get employees personally involved. New collaborative tools such as the climate fresco, or variations on it such as the digital, transport and biodiversity frescoes, help to raise awareness without relying solely on personal involvement. Without this personal mobilization, the embodiment of the type of discourse on this theme related to the service or product offering, for which the sales person is responsible, will be less well embodied in appointments and therefore less valued in the eyes of the customer.
3. Communicating your CSR approach
Communication plays an essential role in the vitality of a CSR project. Sometimes neglected by companies, it is nevertheless what gives life to the approach, sparks commitment and keeps sales teams informed. Effective, constant communication can arouse interest, encourage buy-in and participation in the project. This is a task assigned to the marketing team, who, thanks to sales promotion, will be able to create a dynamic around the project, notably through regular initiatives (CSR content, Podcasts, News on the subject, particularly on social networks, awareness-raising workshops or Webinars).
How can Marketing help integrate CSR into the Sales Pitch?
1. A fresco, better than a long speech
Frescoes have become a universal awareness-raising tool. The proof? 60% of companies surveyed in the Kantar CSR barometer have already organized a Fresque for their teams, compared with 41% of companies surveyed in 2022. We're talking about 3-hour awareness-raising workshop formats that enable participants to become more personally aware, and require a real willingness to act on the part of management. Because of its collaborative format, each of the sales reps is a player in the subject, enabling them to raise awareness and change behavior more quickly. There are over thirty frescoes available for companies, including the climate fresco (to understand climate change), the biodiversity fresco (to understand the interactions within living organisms and the importance of biodiversity), the digital fresco (to understand the impact of digital technology on the environment) and the mobility fresco (to understand the impact of personal mobility).
2. Making CSR easier to understand
The first challenge for marketing is to make CSR accessible and understandable to sales reps. CSR concepts can sometimes seem abstract or complex. It is essential to popularize them not only to make them easier to understand for the sales population, but also to integrate them easily into the sales pitch. This can be done through practical guides, explanatory videos, or by using gamification to make learning fun and easier to assimilate. The organization of various Fresques also makes it possible to raise awareness of various issues in a fun way, on the basis of collective intelligence, thus strengthening cohesion between sales and marketing teams. By making CSR tangible, marketing enables sales reps to take ownership of the issues and integrate them naturally into their exchanges with buyers.
3. Creating CSR content for the sales force
According to Kantar's CSR Barometer, "home-grown" awareness-raising is the most popular among companies, with content sharing ranking in the Top 3 of awareness-raising action plans, regardless of company size: VSE (76%), SME (67%), ETI (71%) and GE (88%). To integrate CSR into the sales pitch, we need to increase the rate of exposure to this theme. Rather than adding the notion of CSR to a single piece of content, make sure you spread it throughout all your marketing content. It's better to integrate CSR notions several times in different media than to create a single, sometimes indigestible, piece of content dedicated to CSR. The more regularly sales reps are exposed to it, the more they'll understand the importance of this approach for their company, and the more instinctively they'll bring it up in meetings. Remember, 78% of buyers say they are influenced by the responsible nature of a brand when making a purchase (LSA). The more buyers are exposed to this notion, the better they'll remember it and integrate it into their decision-making criteria. It should be noted that the content created by marketing must be digestible for the buyer, so that he or she can easily understand the information conveyed. On the sales side, this guarantees a better grasp of the subject, putting them in a better position to provide the right sales arguments to the buyer. In addition, CSR content needs to be up to date to avoid brand image damage, and to ensure that the sales person presents the right information at the right time. It must be visually engaging for maximum impact, and customized to the buyer for a stronger, more coherent sales approach.
4. Train sales reps in CSR discourse
Training is a crucial step in integrating CSR into the sales pitch. The aim is to equip sales reps with the knowledge they need to talk about CSR in a fluid and convincing way. Well-designed training enables sales reps to understand the importance of CSR, to master the main arguments and to know how to integrate them into their sales pitch, depending on how the meeting unfolds. According to Kantar, the lack of time and team is still the main obstacle to the development of CSR policies in French companies: 82% consider it an important or even very important obstacle (40%). The question is, how do you train your sales teams in CSR? Gamification offers marketing and sales managers a concrete answer! In addition to Fresques, gamification is a key tool for mobilizing all sales reps and training them effectively in CSR. By making learning fun, you guarantee better assimilation of the concepts and make training more attractive to the sales force. Not only can sales reps learn independently, but they also enjoy the learning process.
5. Measuring CSR performance
The difficulty of measuring the impact and ROI of CSR is one of the main challenges in getting teams on board: 74% of companies surveyed in 2024 consider this to be a major obstacle, compared with 69% in 2022 (Kantar Baromètre RSE). The implementation of KPIsis necessary to assess the relevance of a company's CSR approach and its impact on the buyer. These KPIs are all the more important as they will serve as a basis for showing sales reps why they were mobilized in the first place and the importance of integrating it into the sales pitch. In this way, they will be more convinced of the benefits of this approach, reinforcing their commitment and the use of CSR content in meetings.
In certain situations, quantifying the impact of a company's CSR approach can even become a differentiating selling point. A number of international and French labels aim to transform CSR actions into "commercial values": Afnor's Engagé RSE, the ECOCERT and Lucie labels, and so on.
Sales Enablement to promote CSR in sales pitches
For CSR & sales reps to become one, get a Sales Enablement application!
1. Integrating CSR into the salesperson's daily routine
For CSR to be integrated into the sales pitch as often as possible, it has to be part of everyday life, at every level! By logically dividing your CSR information into sales paths, you can increase its exposure rate. The result? Salespeople are exposed to it more regularly, appropriate its content more easily and incorporate it more often into their sales pitch. Your Sales Enablement application enables you, for example, without weighing down a presentation on a particular theme, to associate a CSR complement to extend the content of the presentation according to the relevant interactions with the speaker. Your CSR approach is systematically promoted to buyers, helping you stand out from the crowd.
2. Enhance the sales pitch and turn CSR into an opportunity
Enhancing the value of CSR through the sales pitch means moving away from static content! The variety of embedded content (video, 3D realization, etc.) in the Sales Enablement application helps to modernize the sales pitch and create the wow effect with your buyer. The use of dynamic content gives meaning to your CSR approach and makes the sales person more effective in front of the buyer, thus facilitating sales. The Story Telling format offered by the Sales Enablement application enhances the customer experience during appointments, and sets you apart from your competitors. It enables sales reps to connect, engage and convey key messages more easily.
3. Accelerate the sales force's awareness of CSR issues
The Quizz format and the Training mode are two complementary ways offered by the Sales Enablement application to train your sales reps in CSR. The Quizz format makes learning fun, enabling sales reps to train independently, whenever they like (during a break, before an appointment, at the end of the day, etc.). Gamification makes sales reps want to learn, and facilitates the memorization of knowledge. The Training format, on the other hand, maximizes sales teams' proficiency in new CSR content and standardizes their sales pitch during meetings. The Training format enables sales reps to sharpen their pitch and turn it into a powerful presentation in a minimum amount of time.
4. Measuring the performance of CSR content in appointments
To evaluate the performance of CSR content, there's nothing better than tracking the content used in appointments. Sales Enablement's application is equipped with a powerful back-office for marketing teams, so they can understand the environment in which the sales person is operating and continuously improve their CSR approach with buyers. All these statistics serve as a basis for improving your CSR strategy and understanding what's happening in appointments (number of CSR content items presented, time spent on CSR content, number of CSR content shares, etc.). Why not even introduce a CSR-ization indicator for your sales pitch!
Join Salesapps ENGAGE, to be informed of our upcoming events.
FAQ
What is a sales pitch?
A sales pitch is a concise, persuasive presentation of your product or service designed to convince potential buyers and future customers.
How to make a sales pitch?
Start with a good hook, present the key benefits, explain how your service is the best solution to solve a specific problem, and end with a call to action.
How to prepare your sales pitch?
Identify your target audience, understand their needs and industry, create a clear and engaging message, and practice your presentation to be convincing and natural. sales reps trainingis essential to ensure that sales reps are confident during appointments and can deliver the right sales pitch?
What are the dos and don'ts of a sales pitch?
Avoid technical jargon, don't be too pushy, don't talk too long, and don't neglect your B2B buyer's needs. When you're face-to-face, don't forget to ask questions, as these will help you focus your sales pitch.
